


Striped Carnations and Anemones

by GiftboxStudios_onDesk



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Break Up, F/M, Freedom, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25423690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiftboxStudios_onDesk/pseuds/GiftboxStudios_onDesk
Summary: This was my personal idea of an alternate ending: What if Robin escaped but becomes the Snatcher anyways? Also a sympathetic approach to Queen Vanessa, but doesn't change the fact that she literally froze a kingdom.
Relationships: The Prince & Queen Vanessa (A Hat in Time)
Kudos: 13





	Striped Carnations and Anemones

The cellar grows cold each passing day, or was it a week… or month...maybe longer? Prince Robin would’ve guessed immediately if it wasn’t for his hands going numb to tally off an hour as his arms hung from the chains. But nevertheless, he no longer can care about his body as it is going to expire anytime right now. He had guessed why his beloved would make such decisions, but it was no excuse for her to go insane...He can still hear the children scream as the ice captured them like a rapid plague. If only he had saved them, they are like his own children. Robin hung his head low, wanting to give up the ghost, yet something told him that he doesn't want to die like this...If he ever dies, it should not be in the cellar that was turned into a makeshift dungeon. He wants to be back outside to the forest, an odd choice to draw out your final breath but all he wanted was to see the stars…

"Ummph…!!" Was what he let out when the rusty chains broke, letting him fall to the ground. The cuffs are still on both his back arms, but he can move them a bit, which means…He looks up to see a torch that hasn't been lightened…' _This place needs to be a bit warm._ ' Robin thought and like on command, the torch was set ablaze and the cellar took on a golden hue...but the Prince felt something else warm up in his body, it was what he had felt after crying for a very long time. He turned to leave the cellar, his body was weak but the fire in him helped as he walked up the stairs and out the cellar basement.

In the living room, the green wallpaper dulled when the darkness engulfed the manor, the only light there was near the portrait of her and her Prince, but it was dim. Vanessa played on the piano, remembering her lessons her mother had forced her to practice every single day when she was a little girl, then she smiled when she remembered how her Prince would surprise her with a duet as he played the violin. It made her horrible memories go away, she swayed with her fingers that played a love song that had a somber tone. Then the door behind her opened, she turned and expected that it was the wind who blew it open, no...It was her Prince. He looked directly at her, his Queen, just as she wanted it to be. Vanessa couldn't be happier as she waltzed her way and embraced her beloved Prince, "I miss you, My Prince~ Now we can be together forever~" she whispered softly to him like it was a secret, she rested her head on his chest, not minding his clothing that was slightly chilly and picking up dust. Her Prince looked down at her and gave a soft smile, "' _Forever_ ' you say, My Queen?~" he asked in a tone that would make her melt. Vanessa nodded her head, nuzzling her cheek against her Prince's disheveled cravat, she sighed when he placed a hand to stroke her darkened blonde hair on her head. She was drawn to his embrace even more.

"...I don't love you anymore." So calmly Robin said as he pulled himself away from Vanessa, who looked up at her Prince alarmed. He looked down at her with his amber-gold eyes, she saw no emotion, no glint of happiness or love...not even anger, that Robin hid well. "You're bluffing...you always tell odd jokes…!" Vanessa tries to reason while in denial, her Prince? He doesn't love her anymore? That's preposterous! She chuckled and giggled but she was the only one laughing, Robin kept staring at her blankly with a serious aura. Vanessa's ruby eyes gleamed in fear, "My...My Prince...Why…? Why don't you love me…?? What have I done that made you feel that way?" She then remembered why he was chained up, her eyes scowled, and prepared her claws to permanently keep her Prince for herself once and for all. "Was it that red-head who sold flowers?!! Did she change your mind?? Are you falling for her while you're engaged to me??! ...Explain yourself, Prince!!" She can only scream in the empty living room at Robin. He took her clawed hands calmly, keeping his sights on her, "Why would I love you when you destroyed our home…?" Vanessa's face went blank, she looked at Robin like a deer in front of the hunter. Now that he mentioned it, she might have done minor damage around the Subcon Manor after what had happened. Robin let go of her hands and folded his arms sternly, he had never done that gesture in front of Vanessa as he narrowed his eyes at her. She tries to come up with a reason "...Because I love you so much and was willing to fix what we had accidentally destro-!" Robin raised his hand to interrupt her, "I'm sorry, ' _We_ '? I don't remember allowing you to turn our citizens to ice sculptures. And I definitely was absent when the kingdom was, how you put it, 'accidentally' destroyed…!" He controlled his volume to not scream at her, he wanted to express how distraught he truly was at her, yet he remained calm again.

Robin and Vanessa were both silent, Vanessa had now seen what she had done, "I was...I...You arrived days after Mother's-" she was interrupted again, "I knew. I knew that you needed me after her passing, that was why I had put a hold on my studies just to comfort you...I knew that you were scared of suddenly being the Queen without me being by your side. That is why I would still call you 'My Princess', so that once I am back to stay, I'll help you get ready...I was a fool who was deeply in love with you." He wanted to cry as his heart kept breaking, Vanessa wanted to comfort him but she couldn't, "My...My Prince...I am truly sorry for hurting you."

"You did more than just hurt me, my dear... _You killed me._ " Robin stated as he looked dead at Vanessa's ruby eyes. Her jaw dropped, how could her Prince say that?! "P-Prince…?!" She exclaimed, but was ignored by Robin. "I never thought that you would do this to not just me, you killed my love for you, you killed what was left of our dying affection...and you killed our home, the kingdom we were meant to protect...just for someone you didn't entirely know...How cruel are you exactly, Queen Vanessa?" Robin addressed Vanessa with such poison that it made her wince.

"Better yet, you are the Queen, have you always seen me as your prince rather than a king?? Do you even remember my name?" The last question was meant to be a cold joke, but when he saw Vanessa's widened eyes as she covered her mouth with her claws, she wasn't fooling around.

"You...You really have no idea who I am…" He numbly said as he bowed his head down, he realized that there was truly no hope to save what was left. He didn't hear Vanessa's efforts to comfort him as she tried to get closer to him, she kept calling him as "Her Prince" and at times "Her King" as if that can make him feel better. Robin looked up at her tear-stained face, she felt truly sorry for what she had done and repeatedly asked for his forgiveness. Suddenly, there was a soft low chuckling from the Prince as he kept his head down but his body shook with the sound. Vanessa jolted back when Robin's soft chuckle turned into a full-blown hearty cackle, she had found his "normal" laugh unnerving. He laughed extremely hard that tears streamed down his cheek, just the sight of her Prince in utter despair made Vanessa's heart ache.

Robin calmed his laughter and wiped off his tears, he looked at his now-former lover with an unsettling calm smile before turning to exit the room. Vanessa followed him to the manor's main door, wondering where he was going to. "My Prince…?" Robin ignored her again when she asked quietly, as he then opened the doors. Heavy gusts of icy winds blew directly at his face and he remained apathetic, it was when he took one step out the door did Vanessa had started to panic. She grabbed his arm tightly, "Don't leave!!! Please don't!!" She had begged him to reconsider, but she looked up and saw his piercing gold eyes one last time, glaring directly at her soul...silent with concealed rage, a growl before a bite.

She fearfully lets go of his arm and watches him shakingly walk through the snowy storms, away from what was once their home. He crossed his arms close to his chest to retain his remaining warmth and kept his small smile despite the warm tears continuing to fall to the snow. He didn't stop when the winds had gotten worse, or when he heard his Vanessa roar in self-loathing, followed by a big bang from the manor doors closing. He doesn't want to stop just yet, he knows when to stop when he gets there.

It was a miracle that her frost curse didn't reach the forest, it remained untouched with the sound of crickets and the calm rustling of the leaves. Robin felt serene and looked up at the sky, thankful to see the stars one last time. He knelt down and rested his body on a patch of dirt and grass, ready to join the restless nature and those whose lives were snuffed out. But yet, he had a small thought, ' _If only I had lived longer...What can I do if I remain free...after all this time…?_ ' He chuckled to himself breathlessly before...

  
  


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A masked soul wandered around the forest as they tried to look for their friends, they were fine with the fact that the forest wasn't covered in spikes of ice or blocks of snow. But they didn't expect the inmost part of it to be in flames, they almost surrounded the soul, it wasn't scared yet they felt like they were watched, so they felt paranoid instead. They turned back to where they entered from, only for a wall of fire to appear, trapping the soul inside, now they are aware that someone or something knew of their trespassing. Then a pair of gold eyes appeared in front of the soul through the fire along with a wide eerie smile that made the soul freeze in their place. The next thing the soul knows is darkness, shades of amethyst and violet surround their vision, they shake in fear as they start to see snake-like phantoms from a distance, who watch the soul with blank glowing eyes. The masked soul was no longer in the forest but in a supernatural plane where the ground is not visible and the exit above is non-existent.

A dark rumbling voice spoke out, " **Why, hello there~ Are you lost, young one?~** " he said with a low purr from behind the soul, who turned and met the yellow glowing eyes of a dark apparition who towered over them. The eyes behind the soul's mask shrink and cower because of the apparition's wicked smile. " **Now do not fret. I too was lost, but I don't want to be found...or else, I would get hungry~** " He remarked with a dark chuckle, eyeing the small soul with a tinge of hunger, scaring them more. ' _Poor thing...they can't remember how they got lost…~_ ' He thought before getting an idea, " **I'll tell you what. I am in need of souls to build a little place where you can feel safe from the cold. I had witnessed the Queen's powers and how it damaged my forest...Safe to say, I was more than furious.** " He stated while extending a boneless arm. The masked soul looked at him confused and watched his clawed hand get set ablaze with blue flames, only to disappear and be replaced with a rolled-up scroll. The taller ghost leaned to the soul and rolled out the scroll, letting the lost soul read it. " **As written in this piece of paper: I would need your lost friends as well, and I would make each one of you all a body so that we'll start making a place you'll call 'home'...** **_Do we have a deal?~_ **" The ghost asked the soul as his eyes and grin glow together.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have followed me on Tumblr (@thinking-outside-the-giftbox18), I am working on an AHIT AU fanfic series. But I want to show you how I am as a writer because I enjoy making stories as much as I like to doodle a lot. I headcanon the Prince's name as "Robin", just in case you're wondering why he's not named "Lukas". So this is basically a surprise quick story before setting the stage. If you want to find me, I'm on Tumblr, Twitter, DA and YouTube. 
> 
> So please, leave your thoughts on this fanfic and not half-a!@ed insults/compliments.  
> -Giftbox  
> P.S. I also headcanon that Prince Robin would later learn Flower language as an indirect way of expressing his true feelings when he became The Snatcher. Hence, the title.


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